1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally concerned with the dispensing and application of articles of any kind.
It is more particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with marker devices for cables which are fitted to cables or other electrical conductors in order to identify them.
2. Description of the Prior Art
They may be, for example, markers of the type described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 585,376 filed 2 Mar. 1984 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,658.
A cable marker device of this kind generally comprises a plate, two elastically deformable arms integral with the plate and forming an open loop by means of which the marker device is adapted to grip a cable, at least one bearing area on that side of the plate adapted to face the cable, and a respective elastically deformable finger on each of the arms, extending inwardly of the open loop and towards the plate and adapted to bear on the cable so as to urge the bearing area towards the cable.
Given that their dimensions are relatively small, reflecting the diameter of the cables to which they are to be fitted, and that this makes them somewhat difficult to handle, markers of this type are preferably fitted to a cable using a tool.
At present this tool is usually a simple applicator device whose only function is to carry out the necessary fitting.
This is the case, for example, with the tool described in the French patent filed 29 Feb. 1980 under the No. 80.04988 and published under the No. 2.477.305.
In this French patent the applicator device concerned, in order to match a specific marker in the form of a closed loop, is in the form of a fork adapted to grasp a marker of this kind laterally and has provision only for temporarily holding the marker in order to take it from a magazine in which it is previously stored and to fix it either alone or in association with other markers into a marker holder provided for this purpose on the cable to be marked.
Thus a tool of this kind is not adapted to form a magazine and one or more markers always have to be fitted to it individually.
Although an arrangement like this normally entails using separate magazines, even if these are merely bags, it entails a relatively large number of complex and time-consuming operations to apply the markers.
As before, the applicator device described in the German patent application No. 26 19 535 concerns a marker in the form of a closed loop.
This tool, which does form a magazine, comprises a longitudinal body of circular cross-section formed by a central core and a blind bush disposed coaxially around said core to which it is attached by its bottom; it further comprises a bar which is mounted to rotate around the core, between the latter and the bush, and which features a plurality of longitudinal grooves appropriately distributed in the circumferential direction and each adapted to hold and guide a string of markers to be applied.
A handle of the type normally fitted to staplers makes it possible to detach these markers one by one in line with a hole in the back of the bush through which the cable or electrical conductor must then be inserted.
The resulting assembly is somewhat complex and therefore costly, utilizing several distinct parts of which some are movable relative to others.
Furthermore, there is no certainty that a marker previously detached from the string of which it formed part will be effectively taken up by the cable or electrical conductor to which it is to be fitted and supposedly inserted into it, and the marker is equally likely to remain jammed inside the tool, in which case it is necessary to demount the tool, which is time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,308 concerns the application of small wide-head nails usually called tacks. The tool described in this patent is a very simple one: it merely comprises a tube with a longitudinal slot cut slantwise at each end.
Although a tool of this kind may be suitable for applying tacks it is clear that it could not be used for other articles, and in particular for markers for cables or electrical conductors.
The same applies to the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,009,115 which is more complex, using movable parts and in particular a cover which is distinct from and hinged to the body.
There has been proposed an applicator device for open loop markers for cables or electrical conductors formed by a rod with a longitudinal rib adapted to hold and guide one or more such markers.
An applicator device of this kind, which is incidentally suitable only for the specific markers for which it is intended, entails relatively complex and time-consuming handling operations to transfer the markers that it carries to the cables or electrical conductors to which they are to be fitted.
A general object of the present invention is an applicator device constituting a magazine which, more particularly but not exclusively intended for use with the markers for cables or electrical conductors as described in the previously mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 585,376, is particularly easy to use and has various other advantages.